Hip, hip! Yet another victory for the movement
to end Intersex Genital Mutilations!

The World Healt Organisation (WHO) together with the
- Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR)
- UN Women,
- UNAIDS, the
- United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the
- United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the
- United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
issued a ground-breaking Interagency Statement on
>>>
"Eliminating forced, coercive and otherwise involuntary
sterilization".

And it contains equally clear-cut demands of state and institutional
bodies, including

Independent and impartial investigation of all
incidents

Recognize past or present policies, patterns or practices, issue
statements of regret or apology to victims

Collection of data and monitoring

Provide appropriate and humane notification to people
concerned

Access, including through legal aid, to administrative and judicial
redress

Markus Bauer and Daniela Truffer (Zwischengeschlecht.org / StopIGM.org) were
consulted by the WHO for the interagency statement, together with
representatives of other intersex organisations, including Anne Tamar-Mattis
(Advocates for Informed Choice, USA) and Mauro Cabral (Argentinia). May
similar explicit demands on all forms of IGMs be issued by ever more human
rights bodies – and states forced to implement them!It's still a
long way to go ...

After the break: Relevant excerpts from the interagency
statement!

Intersex Genital Mutilations • 17 Most Common
Forms
HumanRights Violations Of Children With Variations Of Sex
AnatomyIGM – Historical
Overview•What is
Intersex?•How Common are
IGMs?>>>
Download PDF (3.65 MB)>>>Table
of Contents

Background

Some groups, such as […] intersex persons, also have a long history of
discrimination and abuse related to sterilization, which continues to this day.
[…] Intersex persons, in particular, have been subjected to cosmetic and other
nonmedically necessary surgery in infancy, leading to sterility, without
informed consent of either the person in question or their parents or
guardians. Such practices have also been recognized as human rights violations
by international human rights bodies and national courts (15,
64).

[…] [I]ntersex persons

Intersex persons may be involuntarily subjected to so-called
sex-normalizing or other procedures as infants or during childhood, which, in
some cases, may result in the termination of all or some of their reproductive
capacity. Children who are born with atypical sex characteristics are often
subjected to cosmetic and other non-medically indicated surgeries performed on
their reproductive organs, without their informed consent or that of their
parents, and without taking into consideration the views of the children
involved (64; 147, para 57; 148; 149). As a result, such children are being
subjected to irreversible interventions that have lifelong consequence for
their physical and mental health (64; 150, para 20; 151).

Medical procedures that might result in sterility may sometimes be
justified because of benefits to health, including the reduction of cancer risk
(152). Such treatments may be recommended for […] intersex persons; however,
they may be proposed on the basis of weak evidence, without discussing
alternative solutions that would retain the ability to procreate (151,
153–157). Parents often consent to surgery on behalf of their intersex
children, including in circumstances where full information is lacking (151,
158, 159).

It has been recommended by human rights bodies, professional
organizations and ethical bodies that full, free and informed consent should be
ensured in connection with medical and surgical treatments for intersex persons
(64, 150) and, if possible, irreversible invasive medical interventions should
be postponed until a child is sufficiently mature to make an informed decision,
so that they can participate in decision-making and give full, free and
informed consent (15, 149). It has also been recommended that health-care
professionals should be educated and trained about bodily diversity as well as
sexual and related biological and physical diversity, and that professionals
should properly inform patients and their parents of the consequences of
surgical and other medical interventions (149; 150, para 20;
160–162).

Remedies and redress

Recognize past or present policies, patterns or practices of coercive
sterilization, and issue statements of regret or apology to victims, as
components of the right to remedy for these practices.

Provide notification, through appropriate and humane means, to people
who have been subjected to coercive sterilization, and who may be unaware of
their situation, and provide information on the possibility of seeking
administrative and judicial redress.

Promptly, independently and impartially investigate all incidents of
forced sterilization with due process guarantees for the alleged suspect, and
ensure appropriate sanctions where responsibility has been
established.

Provide access, including through legal aid, to administrative and
judicial redress

mechanisms, remedies and reparations for all people who were subjected
to forced, coercive or involuntary sterilization procedures, including
compensation for the consequences and acknowledgement by governments and other
responsible authorities of wrongs committed. Enable adults to seek redress for
interventions to which they were subjected as children or infants.

Guarantee access to reversal procedures, where possible, or assisted
reproductive technologies for individuals who were subjected to forced,
coercive or otherwise involuntary sterilization.

Monitoring and compliance

Establish monitoring mechanisms for the prevention and documentation of
forced, coercive and otherwise involuntary sterilization, and for the adoption
of corrective policy and practice measures.

Collect data regarding forced, coercive and otherwise involuntary
sterilization, in order to assess the magnitude of the problem, identify which
groups of people may be affected, and conduct a comprehensive situation and
legal analysis.

Providers of sterilization services should implement quality
improvement programmes to ensure that recommendations aimed at preventing
forced, coercive and otherwise involuntary sterilization are followed and
procedures are properly documented.

Establish mechanisms for obtaining patient feedback on the quality of
services
received, including from marginalized populations.

Intersex Genital Mutilations • 17 Most Common
Forms
HumanRights Violations Of Children With Variations Of Sex
AnatomyIGM – Historical
Overview•What is
Intersex?•How Common are
IGMs?>>>
Download PDF (3.65 MB)>>>Table
of Contents

thank you galen for sharing and everyone for their efforts in raising
awareness and being the cause of better care for everyone affected by the
mistakes made at the handsof those we expect to help but whom haven't. this was
a great read.

"Human Rights For Hermaphrodites Too!"

StopIGM.org is an international human rights NGO of survivors and allies fighting Intersex Genital Mutilations (IGM) in children's clinics, and for the right to physical integrity and self determination for all children born with 'atypical genitalia', or Variations of Sex Anatomy. IGM Practices are a serious human rights violation and MUST STOP.